Yachts & Yachting – April 2018

Set up and sail trim

Compared to sailing in flat water

thereareafewsetuptricksthatwill

helpyouinwaves.Youneedtosail

with more power, so as wind speed

increases, depower slightly later than

usual,andkeepyoursailsfull.

Also because steering is harder

in waves, in boats with a jib, set

the jib up slightly deeper by either

movingthecarsforward,usingmore

barberhauler, or loosening the jib luff.

If you can’t move the jib cars forward,

youronlyoptionistoraisethejibin

order to deepen it, but this isn’t ideal

because this reduces the opportunity

tosetthesailsupwithlotsoftwist.

Allowyourmainsailleechtelltails

to fly 90 per cent of the time rather

than 75 per cent. This set up gives you

more tolerance and will help with the

continual need to accelerate. Sail with

the mainsail deep and twisty too. In

lighterwindsinyachtsyoucansailwith

theboomslightlyabovecenterlineto

helpcreateatwistedleechprofile.

After a bad wave ease sheets

even more in order to accelerate by

inducing twist into your sails. In

dinghies it is a bad habit to do this

beforethebadsetofwavesasitjust

causes the sails to bounce around.

If it feels wavier on one tack, the set

up should be different tack to tack.

Just one example of this is if on one

tackyouhavesideswell.Here,itis

paramount that you do not allow the

boat to become underpowered when

you are on the windward downhill slope

ofthewaveotherwiseitstooeasyto

loseheightandchasethebowdownto

leeward.Trysailingwithmorepower

onthistack.Inallboatsyoucansit

furtherforwardandputthefoilsslightly

more down if possible on this tack.

Boat handling

Imagine a spinning top – it balances on

a point. Using this logic, you want to

tack over the top of the wave, also using

the downhill to accelerate on the exit.

Inchoppyconditionstackalittlefaster

than you would in flat water because

the boat does not glide to windward

throughthemiddleofthetackinthe

same way. Additionally, you will need

to use more rudder in order to get the

bowuptoheadtowindinwaves.

The golden rule of gybing is to

manoeuvre when the boat is fastest and

(^12)
Above
Although many
think them
complicated, the
propulsion rules
are easy to obey
Below

1. Aim to drop the
   spinnaker early in
   waves and try to
   be surfing


2. If you do start
   to bury the bow
   easing the jib will
   give more bow-lift


3. If you catch
   the right wave
   you should not
   lose any speed
   during the drop

58 Yachts & Yachting April 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk